Best Places You May Never Have Heard Of

EDINBURG, Texas, April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- A largely unknown and often overlooked area of the United States is not only starting to get noticed, but is also earning national rankings as the place to live, get a job, go to college and start a business. One of the fastest growing areas in the U.S. with a total population of 2.3 million, Rio South Texas encompasses the southernmost tip of Texas and the northeastern part of Mexico. The region is currently the third largest market in Texas, the 23rd largest market in the country and the largest U.S./Mexico border region in America.

Over the past six months, the region has been ranked nationally in the following areas:

• America's Best-Bang-For-The-Buck Cities. McAllen -Edinburg- Mission ranked 7th for its solid housing market, stable employment, enviable cost of living and quick commute. (Forbes.com, November, 2009)
• America's Fastest-Recovering Cities. McAllen-Mission-Edinburg ranked 48th in this list of 100 most economically secure U.S. metros based on diversified industry and stable housing market. (Forbes.com, November, 2009)
• Safest Hospitals in America. Hospitals in Brownsville (Valley Regional Medical Center), Edinburg (Doctors Hospital at Renaissance and Edinburg Regional Medical Center), Harlingen (Harlingen Medical Center), and McAllen (Rio Grande Regional Hospital and McAllen Medical Center/Heart Hospital) ranked among the best 5% in the nation based on low complication and mortality rates. (HealthGrades, Inc. January, 2010)
• Deep Seaport handles record waterborne in-transits. The Port of Brownsville placed 3rd among the Top 20 U.S. Ports handling Foreign Waterborne In-Transits ahead of the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. (U.S. Corps of Engineers – Transportation Facts, December, 2008)
• Most Secure U.S. Places to Live for 2009. McAllen metropolitan area ranked 7th in large metro areas (500,000+) in the sixth annual ranking of safest cities. (Farmers Insurance Group, December, 2009)
• America's 10 Next Recovering Job Markets. McAllen ranked 3rd and Brownsville ranked 4th based on Economy.com's projected job growth in the first three months of 2010.
• A+ Rating. Fitch Ratings gave the City of Harlingen an "A+" rating based on the city's stable financial history, healthy fund balances, increasingly diversified economic base, below average unemployment and moderate debt ratio. (Fitch Ratings, October, 2009)
• 50 Best Places to Launch a Business. McAllen ranked 16th among the best midsize places in the U.S. to launch a small business. That same study showed that small business start-ups in McAllen-Mission-Edinburg grew by 13% from 2004-2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And McAllen and Brownsville ranked 1st and 2nd among metros with the lowest wages. (CNNMoney.com, October, 2009)
• America's Best Public Colleges. University of Texas Pan American ranked No. 32 in the top 100 list for "America's Best Public Colleges" and was ranked 218 in the complete list of 600 "America's Best Colleges". (Forbes.com, September, 2009)

"These rankings and ratings indicate that Rio South Texas is fast becoming recognized as a healthy market for more than job creation," said Miki McCarthy, Director of San Juan Economic Development Corporation. "This area is proving itself to be among the best and safest places in the country to live, work, learn and do business. We have a lot to boast about, and that's just what we're doing!"

Rio South Texas Economic Council, a public and private association of economic development interests, was formed in 2008 to promote the collective assets of the Rio South Texas region to  attract private sector investment, economic diversification and business expansions. RSTEC – with its tagline "Two Countries. One Region. Many Choices." – is aggressively pursuing six core industry segments: automotive manufacturers and suppliers; aerospace; metal products; medical devices; electronics manufacturing and assembly and renewable energy.

SOURCE Rio South Texas Economic Council